Just Gingivitis

And to that I have to ask, Do your elbows bleed when you take a shower? Well, they shouldn’t, and neither should the gums.

Bleeding gums represent an open wound in one of the most contaminated parts of the body, bar none. And beyond bad breath there are a whole slew of effects on the whole rest of the body as the bacteria and bacterial waste-products seep down into the rest of the system: heart, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys, brain, reproductive organs, joints, etc., etc…. Some of these things can be deadly.

If the direct effects are not bad enough, there are secondary inflammatory stimulatory effects on the immune system, and these effects can lead to wide-ranging damage.

“Just Gingivitis”

Clearly, this picture from Walter Loesche is WAY beyond gingivitis. But one can easily see the tremendous surface area of raw, exposed connective tissue and its associated vasculature, a pathway directly into the circulation. This is frank periodontitis. Gingivitis is much more subtle and hard to notice but can represent another great source of ingress into the bloodstream.